Experiencing Eden: Corn Festival 2024
Fresh Corn on the Cob, a Chicken BBQ, and Competition Worthy Cannoli
I vaguely remember attending the Eden Corn Festival as a child. My grandmother was a crafter there and I set up shop under her table while the adults attended the festival. This hardly counts as experiencing the event and Jeff had never been. This past weekend, we set out to fix that.
Born out of the desire to promote the town, the festival’s star is Eden’s locally grown sweet corn. Held on the grounds of the Newell Faulkner Post of the American Legion on Legion Drive and Route 62, this four-day festival has been an annual event since 1964.
While you will most likely need to pay a modest fee for parking, the festival is free to attend with no gate fee. In addition to corn, the festival features the aforementioned crafters and artisans, rides and games, live music and events throughout the day, and additional food vendors; some of which I will tell you about here.
Our first matter of business was to get that fresh, sweet corn. Soaked in a trough of butter, these crisp, delicious ears were available for $3 an ear. Jeff devoured his while I slowly savored each bite, our first corn of the season. Fresh corn was also available to purchase unhusked, to take home.
After a lap around the festival to consider our options, we set our sites on some BBQ chicken from Weidner BBQ, also of Eden. Having grown up more familiar with other local chicken BBQs, I was first introduced to Weidner BBQ about a decade ago at a catered event. However, this family-owned business has been serving up over the fire, slow cooked chicken with their own BBQ sauce since 1956. I was excited to make the introduction for Jeff who afterward agreed with me that it was probably the best chicken BBQ we have ever tasted.
This business does not have a brick and mortar restaurant. To sample their fare, you’ll need to book them to cater your next get-together or seek them out at a public fundraiser or another local event such as the Erie County fair. You can view their calendar on their website, here.
During our surveying lap around the festival, we came upon a food vendor that had recently been added as a quest to my to-try list. As it was dessert, we saved this stop for last after purchasing charming windchimes from Cherished Legacy Creations, purveyor of upcycled kitchen-ware into garden art.
Some time ago, I recommend my favorite place for cannoli to my sister. Recently upon sampling those, she text me to let me know that they were good, but that Angelo’s was still her favorite. I asked here where they were located and she replied that this was the only problem. You can try Angelo’s Italian Pastry at The Italian Festival, The Erie County Fair, or AppleUmpkin, she told me. As it turns out, we can add the Eden Corn Festival to that list. What a pleasant surprise.
In addition to your choice of cheese or custard filled cannoli, Angelo’s Italian Pastry offers a variety of Italian sweet treats to include, Napoleons, pasticotti, pastry hearts, almond crescents, Italian cookies, cannoli cupcakes, and more. I decided to try one of the cupcakes, rather than a traditional cannoli as it used the same sweet cheese filling both on top and inside the moist cupcake. Even though I didn’t sample the actual cannoli, based on the ricotta filling, I have to admit that Angelo’s IS a strong contender to take away first place from the former reigning cannoli champ in my heart.
I cannot find a social media presence or website to link to for this seemingly elusive business. Can anyone help me out with that?